Whither the modern outsourcing provider? On the one hand, it has to provide some kind of business value for its client. On the other, it also struggles to find the skills that force companies to outsource in the first place. And because technology is so intertwined with modern business, quite often customers don`t want to own a problem but also can`t bear to lose control. It`s a unique set of pressures, as Brainstorm heard during a roundtable discussion held in Johannesburg recently.

According to Lance Fanaroff, joint MD of the Integr8 Group, the skills shortage is just as common for outsourcers as it is for other businesses, but it does work both ways. "The biggest challenge for everyone is the skills shortage but that is both a pro and a con," he says. "Companies want to outsource because of it but it`s then hard for us to find skills." Another challenge facing outsourcers is the convergence of telecoms and IT. Although convergence is an old word, from an outsourced partner perspective, the skillset to align those strategies can be hard to find. Frank Mullen, COO of the telecommunications division at ITEC, says his customers are looking for one point of contact. "In the past, companies had a telecoms solution in-house, a data solution in-house and a software development solution in-house. Because of instant messaging, VOIP and broadband, I as an outsource provider can offer a much higher quality of service to my partners but I also have to align solutions with those partners and be making decisions for them. It`s not their duty to understand technology. When you go [see them] customers ask: can you do my data, my telecoms, my networks, my hosting and my applications? So the pressure on outsourcers is to get those skills on board."